


Wing Commander: Deep Strike Part VI

by StrykerAFOC



Series: Wing Commander: Deep Strike [4]
Category: Wing Commander - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen, Wing Commander - Freeform, commander - Freeform, wing - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-24 05:43:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13207215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrykerAFOC/pseuds/StrykerAFOC
Summary: Task Force Armstrong has finally made it to the assembly point, with time running out they will be in for the largest fight they've ever been in.





	Wing Commander: Deep Strike Part VI

**Deep Strike Part V Demonstrata System**

 

                The Confederation fleet had chosen the Demonstrata System as a rally point, it was a system that had no habitable planets, only six gas giants.  The star itself was always active, projecting intense solar wind and flares, making it a dangerous system to navigate in.  Both the Terrain Confederation and Kilrathi Empire had avoided the system since they first mapped it.  It was tucked off the major space lanes, a perfect spot to assemble a strike fleet.

                Admiral Castier had already assembled 14 combat vessels, and a dozen tenders, some had been their own task force like the Armstrong and Selfridge, conducting raids on the Kilrathi shipping, the others were fresh from Confed Space.

                The Armstrong and the Selfridge took up position on the left flank, their destroyer escorts spreading out to from a defensive line.  McKenzie launched two patrols to watch the sector they were assigned to.

                A tender ship, the TCS Gomez moored alongside the Selfridge, onboard was engineering teams tasked with improving her combat readiness.  They checked in with Lieutenant Commanders Leeds and Krazinski before heading to the areas they were concerned with.

                One shuttle each from the Armstrong and the Selfridge launched and made their way over to the Mount Mitchell, on one was Blonski and McKenzie, the other contained Rowle and Holsiter.  They were headed over to meet with the admiral and the other commanders.

                Both shuttles docked in the Mitchell’s hangar bay and unloaded the passengers, then immediately launched to wait hovering around the command ship.

                Blonski and company entered the briefing room, it was a three tiered room, high benches went around the room with a large holographic display in the center.  The commanders of the ships and wings were already present, most were sitting on the benches mingling with their neighbors.

                ‘Blonski!’ a voice rang out, making him turn to see who was calling his name, a large older man walked out of the crowd to his left, and came straight over.

                ‘Jake, how are you?’ said Blonski as they shook hands, ‘How is that old rust bucket of yours?’

                ‘That old rust bucket will run circles around you any day of the week.’

                Blonski motioned to the men in his group, ‘This is my CAG Colonel McKenzie, and my former XO Commander Rowle, he is now the acting commander of the Selfridge, and his CAG Major Holsiter, guys, this is Captain Jake ‘Jump Pack’ Helman, skipper of the Keflavik.’

                The men in Blonski’s group each shook hands with Helman. ‘Jump Pack?’ McKenzie asked.

                ‘It’s a long story,’ Helman replied, ‘Have Blonski tell it to you one day, especially if he’s been drinking.’

                Holsiter looked around the room, seeing a few people he recognized, ‘This must be a major event to have all the command staffs from the ships here in person.’

                ‘Maybe this is a major offensive to take back some of the lost colonies,’ Rowle replied.

                The door behind them hissed open, a man in the uniform of a Master Chief entered, ‘Room!’ he barked, ‘Ten-hut!’

                The entire room went silent and every man and woman present stood at attention facing the door.

                Admiral Castier and General Takashima walked in side by side. ‘Please be seated,’ Castier waived at the assembled commanders.  ‘I don’t want to take to long, we have a lot to go over and not enough time.’  They both took up opposite positions at the holo-display, Castier nodded to the tech sitting off to the side, an image of a world formed above the display.  it had oceans and land mass like Earth does, but the continent stretched around the globe, the large areas connected by thin strips of land bridges.

                ‘This ladies and gentlemen is the planet Coluth,’ Castier said, ‘And this is our target.’

                Murmuring began to rumble through the room, Coluth was a known Kilrathi stronghold, it was a major resupply world for their ground forces and was defended by a large fleet.

                ‘Sir,’ Captain Lovejoy of the TCS Yorkshire said, ‘Isn’t there a larger fleet defending that planet?’

                ‘Normally you’d be correct captain,’ Castier replied, ‘But as of this moment it is only defended by one fourth of that fleet, the rest have been recalled to the Kilrathi homeworld.’

                ‘Why would the cats leave?’ Captain Helman asked, standing off to the side.

                ‘Because of this,’ Hirohito answered and tapped a few buttons on the display. 

                The hologram shifted then altered to a depiction of a system, then icons of Confed ships began appearing.

                ‘Five days ago, the TCS Tarawa led a raid on the cat’s home world, Kilrah itself,’ Takashima continued, her voice carrying around the room,  ‘They were able to destroy key space dock facilities and bomb their airfields, as well as destroying several of their line battleships, and a few still under construction.’

                ‘Which is forcing the Empire to pull back much of their fleet resources to protect Kilrah,’ Castier finished, ‘Including the elements that was protecting Coluth, leaving it ripe for a raid, and not just to destroy their war industry complex but also…’ the holomap reverted back to Coluth and zoomed in onto the surface, revealing multiple prisoner camps, ‘To liberate the human colonist that were moved there from our colonies lost during the war.’

                Murmurs of approval went around the room, many in the Confed military had been waiting to take the fight to the Kilrathi.

                ‘For this reason,’ Castier continued silencing the room, ‘We are waiting here for the ground assault contingent of our plan.’

                ‘What are we waiting on?’ Captain Zunigan of the Brussels asked.

                Acknowledging the light carriers captain’s question with a nod, ‘Lieutenant General Harper will be here in two days with specially trained ground forces and a couple of requisitioned star liners to help evacuate the prisoners.’

                For the next three hours the assembled commanders went over the details of the raid, fighter squadrons were identified that would provide top cover for the ground forces, and which wings would provide the primary attach craft and which was on reserve.  This was turning into one of the largest offensives since the beginning of the war.

                At the conclusion all the commanders were clear on what their role was in the upcoming raid, just one last detail had to be completed.  ‘Attention everyone,’ Admiral Castier said, ‘Before you leave to return to your commands, we have one last item to go over,’ he then looked at the Master Chief to his right.

                ‘Attention to orders!’ the Master Chief barked, bringing the room to attention again.

                ‘Commander Rowle front and center,’ Castier ordered.  Rowle marched up to the Admiral and stood at attention.  ‘Commnder, you have taken a broken ship and turned it around, keeping it in service to the Confederation, for that I’m officially promoting you to Captain, with the TCS Selfridge as your command.’  Castier took the proffered captain ranks the Chief held out and pinned them on Rowles collar.

                Rowle saluted the admiral and did an about face after receiving it back.  The room broke out in applause and cheers.  ‘Of course you’ll have to send me your recommendations on who to officially promote to fill in your staff,’ Castier said into his hear.

                ‘Yes sir, you’ll have it in a day.’

                Blonski and McKenzie was the first of the room to congratulate the new Captain, ‘I expect some drinks in your lounge at your earliest,’ Blonski said.

 ‘And don’t skip the expensive stuff,’ McKenzie countered.  It was the same from many of those who congratulated the new Captain.

 

**Wing Maintenance Bay TCS Armstrong**

                The heavy blast doors to the personnel elevator opened with a hiss and grind of gears.  McKenzie looked up from the data pad he was reading and walked out into the busy repair deck.  Men and women of the wing’s maintenance squadron moved about working on the birds damaged during the recent engagements or those needing to be upgraded for the upcoming mission.  Sidestepping a shower of sparks from a grinder that a crew chief was using while patching armor onto a wildcat, he saw the two he came to see.

                Captain Baumgartner and Chief Beaman walked up to McKenzie, both wore the light blue flight suits ‘wrench turners’ throughout the fleet wore while working on fighters and bombers.  They were the two leads for all maintenance the wing required.  An urgent call from Beaman is what got McKenzie to come all the way down here in the first place.

                ‘So what is the problem with the replacement fighters we received?’ McKenzie asked.

                ‘You’ll have to take a look for yourself sir,’ Baumgartner said, he was taller and skinnier than both McKenzie and Beaman.

                ‘You’ll cry sir.’ Beaman commented as he pulled a stick of tobacco from the front pocket of his suit and took a bite of it, not caring that it was against regulations.

                ‘Are they in that bad shape?’

                ‘You’ll see sir,’ Baumgartner said.

                They walked down a row of scimitars being upgraded with additional hard-points to add more missiles.  McKenzie noticed that the wings that were normally folded while onboard, were extended and already had a temporary hard-point attached.  Majority of scimitar squadrons were designated top cover for the fleet, the extra missiles to assist in bringing down shields of opposing ships, the remainder as fighter-interceptor reserve.

                In the adjacent bay, separated by another blast door was the replacement fighters sent over.  McKenzie walked up to the nearest wildcat, ‘What’s the problem?...’ he asked, cutting his question short, ‘Oh.’

                ‘Yes, oh!’ Beaman said.  The fighters had no squadron colors or markers, indicating they were brand new, off the assembly line models.  ‘I don’t know where she pulled these from, but I can bet a month’s pay they haven’t even been on a shakedown flight.’

                McKenzie had to agree with Beaman, because these were brand new, they most likely needed to be overhauled and weapons upgraded, that would take time they did not have.  ‘Have two teams per ship start immediately.’

                ‘What about the other repairs?  Baumgartner asked, referring to the other maintenance going on around them.

                ‘Ensure the engines and shields can handle a prolong dogfight,’ McKenzie directed, ‘I’ll assign these to pilots that will be in reserve, that’s the best I can do for now.’

                ‘We’ll do our best to get them all up to the wing’s level,’ said Baumgartner, ‘But they might just be paperweights until after this fight is over.’

                ‘Do your best.  Is there anything else?’

                ‘Yes sir,’ Beaman replied, ‘Did you see those big ugly birds?’  He meant the three of the latest Confederation bombers that were transferred to the Armstrong to replace the bomber losses.

                In the main launch bay three large craft were strapped down.  They looked like overgrown class four shuttles.  Beaman walked around the front, mumbling something about stuff not being broken.  McKenzie and Baumgartner went to the rear to look at the engines.

                ‘So these are Longbows, huh?’ McKenzie said as he looked up at the latest in Confed design.  ‘What are their capabilities?’

                Baumgartner lifted up a clipboard he always carried while on the maintenance deck, he always preferred hardcopies to datapads.  ‘They carry a smaller load compared to the broadswords, but have better maneuverability and upgraded shields, and targeting systems.’

                ‘Must be a very smaller load,’ replied McKenzie, skeptical of the size of the new bombers.

                ‘Hey, chief!’ a new voice yelled out, ‘I thought I told you to leave my birds alone.’

                ‘Now listen here you jumped up, little…..’

                ‘No, you listen,’ the voice cut Beaman off, ‘These ships are beyond the thinking capabilities of you knuckle draggers, even one who has been around since the dinosaurs.’

                McKenzie and Baumgartner walked around from the back and saw Chief Master Sergeant Beaman ball up his right fist and draw back.  McKenzie was able to grab the chief’s arm before he could swing.

                The lieutenant that had been goading Beaman snapped to attention, ‘Sir,’ he said bringing up a salute.  ‘I’m First Lieutenant Delray, It’s a pleasure to …’

                McKenzie walked around Delray without acknowledging his salute, looking the young officer up and down.

                ‘Sir, you saw this enlisted man was about to strike a superior,’ Delray said.

                ‘No,’ McKenzie cut him off, ‘What I saw was a cocky “A” hole about to get his head kicked in by a the chief of maintenance.  Now get your crew and the others assembled in front of their ships in five minutes.’

                ‘Academy grad’,’ Baumgartner said next to McKenzie, ‘New generation that thinks they can win this war alone.’

                ‘Yes, but at least we’re here to hold their hands.’

                Beaman looked at his wing commander, ‘Sorry sir, almost lost it there.’

                ‘Not to worry, you’ll get other opportunities to beat a young officer into submission.’

**Coluth**

                Sergeant Lucia Vito scanned the site the Kilrathi was using to construct a set of platforms, nearby heavy machines were being used to dig a large, deep pit.  ‘What is going on? she said, handing over the optical scope to her partner.

                ‘Never seen anything like it,’ Sergeant Hoban Sever responded while he used the scope to snap a few pictures.  ‘I’m sending them over to C.P., maybe they can make heads or tails of it.  I should probably get a closer shot….’

                A woman’s blood curdling scream echoed through the hillside, silencing Sever’s plans.  Both scouts instantly froze, their training taking over. 

                ‘What was that? Sever asked.

                ‘Don’t know, but that didn’t sound friendly.’

                ‘Hey look down there,’ Sever said indicating a small group of Kilrathi emerging from behind a small hill.  Their laugh, a sound like half a hic-up could be heard, apparently they were enjoying themselves, echoed throughout the hills.  There were five of them, all wore the uniforms of guards for the prisoner camp they.  Two at the back of the group were dragging the limp form a blond woman in a prisoner outfit, two others pushed two males ahead of them, the final, who had reddish tint to his fur walked ahead of the entire group. 

                As far as Sever could tell the woman was dead, the front of her clothing soaked in blood, the men were wounded as if they were roughed up.  Switching the scope over to record a vid he watched in horror as the reddish Kilrathi turned around whipping a long blade out and decapitating both men in two strokes.  All three bodies were then thrown into the newly dug pit.

                Again their laughs filled the hills.

                ‘Damn, I know what that is for,’ Sever said as he put the scope away, ‘Let’s go we need to report this immediately.’


End file.
